Dolce Far Niente

“Today we should really take a walk around the island. The weather is nice. We used to do this more often.” Thus she spoke. And right she was. But in those days we were still working, we still had extra time to spend.

Now we are retired. A paradox, you say? Keep reading. “We can’t today.” I answered. “I have an 11:30 with Dr. Goodman, and you have therapy at 4:15. And I still need to buy the fish for dinner. Maybe tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow” was the day the neighbor slipped in the kitchen. She was able to grab the phone and call 911. We went over to her house to comfort her. The ambulance arrived to take her to the ER. We followed, to look after her. She lived alone and had no family. It was way past noon when she was finally admitted and given a bed. We drove home, hungry and exhausted. No walk that day.

The next day was a Saturday. We had booked seats for a matinee performance and decided to clean up and go for lunch. Again no walk. Sunday was out because we had arranged for a little garden party in the afternoon. But first the patio furniture needed a scrubbing, which took up the time before lunch..

And so it goes, week after week – internist, dentist, urologist, cardiologist, hematologist, shopping, party, house cleaning and so forth. Round and round we go. I have now come up with a new maxim, a truly fundamental principle for seniors: Nothing, I say, takes more time than the effort to find time to do nothing.

 

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